Rotatable cylinder knitting machines



April 7, 1959 D. P. MOORE ROTATABLE CYLINDER KNITTING MACHINES FiledJune 18 1957 Fig.5

INVENTOR United States Patent 2,880,600 ROTATABLE CYLINDER KNITTINGMACHINES David Pelton Moore, Marlow, NH.

Application June 18, 1957, Serial No. 666,438 3 Claims. (Cl. 66-9) Thepresent invention relates to improvements in rotatable cylinder knittingmachines, one object of the invention being the provision of a universalmachine of this type that will knit, at selected periods, jersey fabricsof varying weights or knitted pile fabrics of varying weights.

That is, when employed to knit pile fabrics, the fiber blenders andfeeders are made operative with the rotatable needle cylinder, theunnecessary cams for jersey knitting having been idled during thisoperation and only enough cams to cooperate with the pile fabric making,but which when jersey fabrics are to be knitted, the fiber blenders andfeeders are rendered idle, and the necessary jersey knitting camsbrought in to use.

In the copending abandoned application filed January 24, 1957, SerialNo. 636,168, a different type of intermediate drive is shown anddescribed, while in this instance such drive is carried upon theunderside of the bed plate of the knitting machine and not on topthereof.

In order that this invention may be fully understood, attention isinvited to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a diagrammatic view of the bed plate of the knittingmachine, showing in reduced scale the intermediate drive and one fiberblender and feeder.

Figure 2 shows a section through the needle cylinder, the bed plate andparts of the intermediate drive mechamsm.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the intermediate drive merchanism per se.

Figure 4 is a side view of the same, showing only the frame structure.

Figure 5 is an end view on a reduced scale of the frame structure withthe driven shaft and clutch operating lever.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the bed plate of arotatable cylinder latch needle machine, and 2 designates the needlecylinder, having its annular driven gear 3, which in this instancebecomes the drive gear through a spur gear 4 to an intermediate gearmechanism 5, attached to and carried by the bed plate below the same.

This intermediate gear mechanism includes a main frame 6, which may becast or molded in two pieces, and welded together, so as to provide thetwo aligned journal bearings 7 and 8, and the aligned journal bearings9-9', which are at right angles to the other journal bearings.

Mounted in the journal bearing 7, is a shaft 10, to the inner end whichis carried the spur gear 4, while at its other end there are one or morekey-Ways 11, into which slidably fit keys 12, carried by the slidablesleeve 13, which in turn carries a clutch member 14. This may beprovided with any means that will fixedly connect the same to the fixedclutch member 15, carried by the shaft 16, journaled in the journalbearing 8, but here this clutch member 14 is provided with projectinglugs 17 to enter the recesses 18 of the fixed clutch member 15.

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Upon the outer end of the shaft 16, remote from the clutch member 15, isa bevel gear 19, which in turn meshes with the right-angle disposedbevel gear 20, which is fast to the shaft 21, journaled in the bearings9-9. By this arrangement, when the clutch is closed, the needle cylinderimparts rotation to the shafts 10 and 16, and also shaft 21.

Upon the extreme end of the shaft 21 is mounted a sprocket wheel 22, andthrough a chain 23, operates another sprocket wheel 24, carried by thefiber blender and feeder 25, which is attached to the upper face of thebed plate directly above, but to one side of the intermediate gearmechanism.

In order to operate the slidable clutch member 14, a lever 26, having ayoke 27, that fits about or over the groove 28 of the slidable sleeve13, with two pins 29, that fit in said groove 28, and as the lever ispivoted at 30 to an arm 31 carried by the frame, the lever can be movedright or left to close or open the clutch. Carried by the frame belowthe lever is an arm 32, carrying a bar 33, having notches or recesses 34and 35 in its upper surface. These notches are to receive the lever ineither a clutch closing or open position. That is when the lever ismoved to the right and fitted into the notch 34, the clutch is heldclosed, or when moved to the left and fitted into the notch 35, theclutch is locked open.

When the clutch is locked closed, the unnecessary cams of the knittingmachine are rendered idle, and the fiber blender or feeder, that is oneor more, are operated to knit a pile fabric, while when the clutch islocked open, the necessary cams for jersey knitting are brought intoplay, and pile blenders and feeders are idle.

Thus it is evident by this construction that the user may elect to makeknitted pile fabrics or jersey fabrics, and when long billed latchneedles such as needle 36 are employed, varying weights of either thepile knitted fabric or jersey fabric may be made as set forth in theabove noted pending application.

In a normal 26 inch cylinder machine, having 16 to 32 cams or knittingpositions, each of the fiber blenders and feeders will cover three tofour, using one of these cams to knit the pile fabrics, but inasmuch asthe base plates of the fiber blenders and feeders each have bolt andslot connections to the bed plate, when the clutches are thrown andlocked out, the fiber blenders and feeders are then slid outwardly andbolted, so that all of the cams of the machine can be brought into playfor knitting jersey fabrics, thus not reducing the production, whenshifted for jersey fabrics.

What is claimed is:

l. A rotary cylinder knitting machine, including a bed plate, arotatable needle cylinder having a drive gear thereon mounted in the bedplate, a fiber blender and feeder mounted on the bed plate, andmechanism for driving the fiber blender and feeder from the drive gearof the needle cylinder, including a supporting frame attached to the bedplate, two aligned and spaced shafts mounted in the supporting frame, agear upon the end of the inner shaft and in gear with the gear of theneedle cylinder, a clutch connection between the abutting ends of thealigned shafts to connect and disconnect the outer shaft from the innershaft, a cross shaft mounted in the supporting frame adjacent thenon-clutch end of the outer shaft of the aligned shafts and having itsends projecting exteriorly of the supporting frame, meshing gearscarried by the cross shaft and its adjacent aligned shaft, and a gearingdrive between one extended end of the cross shaft and the fiber blenderand feeder.

2. A rotary cylinder knitting machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein theclutch consists of two members, one of which has a grooved periphery andis slidably keyed to the end of one of the aligned shafts, and amanually operated lever having one end pivoted to the supporting framewith its intermediate portion operably connected 6 to the groove of theslidable clutch member for operating to connect and disconnect theclutch, and a means to lock the lever in either clutch closed or clutchopen position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,848,370 Moore Mar. 8, 1932 1,894,596 Moore Jan. 17, 1933 2,779,176Moore Jan, 29, 1957

